Budget Breakfast Burritos with Bacon and Veggies

Breakfast burritos are warm, filling and ready in under 20 minutes, packed with crispy bacon, soft scrambled eggs, sautéed veggies and melted cheddar in a toasted wrap. A cheap, savoury way to start the day that scales up easily for meal prep.

These breakfast burritos turn a few simple ingredients into a hot, savoury meal that holds together in one hand. Crispy bacon offcuts, fluffy scrambled eggs and lightly cooked peppers and tomatoes go into a soft wrap with grated cheddar, then the whole thing gets toasted until golden. The filling cooks in three quick pans, so the dish comes together in under 20 minutes from start to plate. It is cheap to make, easy to adapt with whatever veg you have, and freezes well for busy mornings.

Ingredients for Savoury Breakfast Burritos

Here is the ingredient list for breakfast burritos:

• Bacon offcuts – cheap pieces of smoked and unsmoked gammon and bacon that fry up crispy and salty. Ham or gammon works just as well.
• Large eggs – the soft scrambled base of the filling. Beaten and cooked gently so they stay fluffy.
• Unsalted butter – for scrambling the eggs. Kerrygold gives a richer, creamier result.
• Salt – to season the eggs and veg. Go easy, as the bacon is already salty.
• Black pepper – a bit of warmth and bite through the filling.
• Cherry tomatoes – they soften and turn jammy in the pan, adding a bit of sweetness against the salty bacon. Small plum tomatoes work too.
• Sweet pepper – red, orange or yellow for colour and a mild sweetness. Diced small so it cooks quickly.
• Spring onion – both the white and green parts, chopped, for a fresh oniony lift.
• Dried oregano and basil – a pinch of each to season the veg as it cooks.
• Dried garlic – a quick way to get garlic flavour through the filling without chopping.
• Chilli flakes or cayenne – for a spicy kick. Add as much or as little as you like.
• Vegetable oil – a neutral oil for frying the bacon and veg without adding flavour.
• Grated cheddar cheese – melts through the warm filling and helps hold the wrap together.
• Burrito wraps – large plain, seeded or wholemeal wraps. Use whatever you prefer.

This is the pack of bacon offcuts that I usually buy from Aldi:

How to Make Breakfast Burritos Step by Step

1. Step 1: Heat a little vegetable oil in a skillet and add the bacon. Fry over medium-high heat until browned and crispy, then transfer to a bowl and set aside. Wipe the skillet clean with a piece of kitchen paper.

2. Step 2: Beat the eggs in a bowl with a little salt and black pepper. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium-high heat, then pour in the eggs and leave them undisturbed for about 30 seconds. Once the bottom starts to set, push the eggs gently across the pan with a spatula in slow folds, taking them off the heat while still slightly soft so they finish creamy rather than dry. Remove and set aside, then wipe the skillet.

3. Step 3: Heat a little more oil in the skillet and add the chopped veg along with salt, black pepper, chilli flakes, dried oregano and basil. Sauté for a couple of minutes, just until the veg softens slightly. You can skip this and use the veg raw, but those five minutes of cooking with the herbs lift the whole filling and are well worth it.

4. Step 4: Now for the fun part. Lay a wrap on a board and pile the bacon, scrambled eggs and veg along the lower third, then scatter over the grated cheddar. Fold the two sides in over the filling, then roll up tightly from the bottom, keeping the sides tucked as you go. Place each burrito seam side down on a hot skillet and press gently with a spatula. Fry for one to two minutes on each side until golden, watching closely as they catch the moment you turn your back. Serve warm. These are great for meal prep, so scale up, cook and freeze.

How to Serve and Store These Breakfast Wraps

Serve the burritos warm, straight from the pan while the cheese is still melted and the wrap is crisp. They are good on their own, but a wedge of lime, a scatter of fresh coriander or a spoon of soured cream or hot sauce on the side all work well. For a bigger meal, add a few wedges of avocado or a simple salad.

To store, let them cool fully first, then keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days. Reheat in a dry pan or a hot oven to bring back the crisp wrap, or use the microwave if you are short on time, though the wrap will be softer. To freeze, wrap each one tightly in foil or baking paper and freeze for up to two months. Reheat from frozen in the oven, or defrost overnight in the fridge first for a quicker morning warm-up.

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How Much Do These Breakfast Burritos Cost Around the World

One of the best things about these breakfast burritos is the price. The main saving comes from bacon offcuts, which cost a fraction of regular rashers. In Ireland, Aldi sells Irish bacon offcuts, a mix of smoked and unsmoked gammon and bacon, for around €2.50 per kilo, and you only need 200 g here. In the UK, a pack of eight tortilla wraps runs about £1.30 to £1.90 at Tesco, with cooking bacon as little as £1.49 a kilo at the discounters. That puts a full batch of four burritos at roughly £2.50 to £3.50 in the UK and €3 to €4 in Ireland, which is well under £1 a serving.

In the USA, value bacon pieces cost around $1.94 for a small pack and a batch of four lands around $4 to $5. In Australia, where bacon and eggs cost a little more, expect roughly AUD 7 to 9 for the four. In Canada, similar shop-brand bacon and wraps bring it to about CAD 6 to 8.

Wherever you are, buying bacon offcuts or cooking bacon from a budget supermarket like Aldi or Lidl is the key to keeping these savoury breakfast burritos genuinely cheap.

Top Tips for the Best Breakfast Burritos

• Cook the bacon until properly crispy. Bacon offcuts hold a lot of moisture and fat, so give them time in the pan to brown and crisp rather than just heat through. Crisp bacon adds texture against the soft eggs and melted cheese, and it stops the filling turning greasy. Spread the pieces in a single layer so they fry rather than steam, and let them sit before stirring so they catch some colour. The rendered fat also seasons the pan, which is no bad thing.
• Take the eggs off the heat while they still look slightly underdone. Scrambled eggs keep cooking from their own residual heat even after you stop stirring. If you wait until they look perfect in the pan, they will be dry by the time the burrito is rolled and toasted. Pull them off soft and a little glossy, and they will finish creamy inside the wrap. Dry, rubbery eggs are the most common thing that lets a breakfast burrito down.
• Season the eggs and veg separately, not the whole burrito at the end. Each part of the filling tastes better when it is seasoned as it cooks, so add salt and pepper to the eggs in the bowl and to the veg in the pan. Seasoning in layers gives a more even, rounded flavour than a single hit at the end. Go gentle with the salt overall, because the bacon and the cheddar both bring plenty of their own. Taste as you go and adjust before you assemble.
• Do not skip the quick sauté on the veg. Raw peppers and tomatoes work in a pinch, but a few minutes in the pan with the dried herbs softens them and deepens their flavour. The tomatoes release some of their water and turn slightly jammy, which stops the burrito going soggy later. The peppers lose their raw edge and turn sweeter. Those five minutes genuinely change the finished dish, so they are worth the extra pan.
• Drain any excess liquid from the veg before filling the wraps. Tomatoes in particular let out a fair bit of water as they cook, and that liquid is the enemy of a crisp wrap. Cook the veg until most of the moisture has evaporated, and tip away anything that pools in the pan before you assemble. A dry filling toasts up crisp and holds its shape, while a wet one steams the wrap and makes it fall apart. This small step is the difference between a neat burrito and a messy one.
• Roll tightly and place the seam side down first. A loose burrito unravels in the pan and spills its filling, so keep it firm as you roll and tuck the sides in well. Putting the seam side down on the hot pan first seals the edge shut, which holds everything together for the rest of the cooking. Press gently with a spatula to help the seam bond and to get even contact with the pan. Once the seam is set, you can flip it safely to crisp the other side.
• Watch the pan the whole time while toasting. These breakfast burritos go from golden to burnt in a matter of seconds, especially over a hot pan. Stay with them, keep the heat at medium rather than high, and turn them as soon as the underside is crisp and brown. Walking away even briefly is the quickest way to ruin a good burrito. A medium heat gives you more control and a more even colour than blasting them.
• Let them cool before wrapping for the fridge or freezer. Wrapping a hot burrito traps steam, which turns the wrap soggy and makes it stick to the foil. Let them cool fully on a rack so the surface stays dry, then wrap and store. Cooling first also helps them keep their shape and reheat more evenly later. This matters most for the freezer batch, where a soggy wrap never quite recovers.
  

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Breakfast burritos packed with crispy bacon, soft scrambled eggs, sautéed peppers and tomatoes and melted cheddar in a toasted wrap. A cheap, savoury and filling breakfast that comes together in under 20 minutes and freezes well for busy mornings.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 200 g (7 oz) bacon offcuts, ham or gammon, cut into equal pieces
• 4-5 large eggs, beaten
• 15 g (1 tbsp) unsalted butter
• Salt, to taste
• Black pepper, to taste
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes or small plum tomatoes, quartered
• 1 large sweet pepper (red, orange or yellow), diced
• 3 spring onions, white and green parts, chopped
• 1 pinch dried oregano
• 1 pinch dried basil
• 1 pinch dried garlic
• Chilli flakes or cayenne, to taste
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 80 g (3 oz) grated cheddar cheese
• 4 large burrito wraps

Instructions

1. Heat a little vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and fry until browned and crispy. Transfer to a bowl and wipe the skillet clean.
2. Beat the eggs with a little salt and black pepper. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium-high heat, pour in the eggs and leave undisturbed for about 30 seconds. Push the eggs gently across the pan in slow folds, then take them off the heat while still slightly soft. Set aside and wipe the skillet.
3. Heat a little more oil in the skillet. Add the chopped tomatoes, sweet pepper and spring onion with the salt, black pepper, chilli flakes, oregano, basil and dried garlic. Sauté for a couple of minutes until just softened, then drain off any excess liquid.
4. Lay a wrap on a board. Pile the bacon, eggs and veg along the lower third and scatter over the cheddar. Fold the sides in, then roll up tightly from the bottom. Place seam side down on a hot skillet and press gently with a spatula. Fry for one to two minutes on each side until golden, watching closely so they do not burn. Serve warm.

Notes

Take the eggs off the heat while still slightly soft, as they keep cooking and will finish creamy rather than dry inside the wrap.

Cook the veg until most of the moisture has gone and drain any liquid, or the wrap will turn soggy.

Warm stiff or wholemeal wraps for a few seconds before rolling so they fold without cracking.

Always toast seam side down first to seal the burrito shut before flipping.

To freeze, cool fully, wrap each one tightly and freeze for up to two months. Reheat in the oven for the crispest result.